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Interim Report: Inspection Into How Effectively the Police Engage With Interim report Inspection into how effectively the police engage with women and girls Contents Foreword 1 Background 4 Section 1: Defining the problem 5 The impact and scale of the harm caused to victims is often immeasurable 6 VAWG causes high demand on the police and other public services 6 Section 2: Current response to VAWG: review from our analysis of previous inspection findings 8 Victims of VAWG offences aren’t always given consistent and appropriate support through the criminal justice system 8 The police don’t always investigate VAWG-related offences effectively 9 The low prosecution rates in cases involving VAWG offences are indefensible 10 The police have made welcome improvements in recent years, but these aren’t enough to tackle the epidemic of VAWG crime 11 The police need the capacity and capability to cope with the changing demand 12 In multi-agency working, roles and responsibilities need to be clearer and more consistent 13 The police, together with other partner agencies, should have a relentless and consistent focus on protecting the victim and preventing further offending by bringing perpetrators to justice and identifying early opportunities to address harmful behaviour by children 14 Better evidence is needed to improve accountability at all levels 15 Section 3: Call for change 16 There is a major need for an immediate, co-ordinated and relentless focus on the whole system to tackle these offences 16 There also needs to be an upwards shift in priority in how the police pursue and disrupt offenders 17 Section 4: Recommendations 18 Next steps 22 Annex A 23 i Foreword In March 2021, the Home Secretary commissioned Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) to inspect the effectiveness of police engagement with women and girls. Our final report will be published in September 2021. This interim report sets out findings and recommendations from one part of this inspection, which focuses on how effectively the police respond to violence against women and girls (VAWG) offences. These are violent and high-harm crimes that disproportionally affect women and girls, such as domestic abuse, sexual violence, stalking, and female genital mutilation (FGM). The police approach to VAWG offences has been a focus of many of our inspections since 2015. For this interim report, we completed an analysis of themes and findings from these inspections (including those currently in the field), and assessed progress made against our recommendations. We also consulted widely with experts in this area of policing, through an external reference group convened for this inspection. We thank all reference group members for their invaluable contributions to our work. We are publishing this report now for two reasons. First, so our findings can inform the government’s updated VAWG and domestic abuse strategies, due for publication in summer/autumn 2021. And second, because our findings show the need for immediate, radical and cross-system action to respond with greater pace and urgency to what we consider to be an epidemic of offending against women and girls. The statistics on the prevalence and range of these crimes are stark and shocking. To give just three examples: the Crime Survey for England and Wales showed that an estimated 1.6 million women (and 757,000 men) in England and Wales experienced domestic abuse in the 12 months to March 2020; over a third of all police-recorded sexual offences are against children, with girls more likely to experience sexual abuse; and in the 12 months to September 2020, the police recorded 153,136 rape and other sexual offences. The victim was female in 84 percent of these cases. Each of the cases that make up these statistics represents a woman or girl who has experienced harm and suffering. This was most recently brought to the forefront of everyone’s mind in March 2021 by the disappearance of 33-year-old Sarah Everard in south London. Her body was found in woodland in Ashford, Kent a week later. One month later, Julia James, a police community support officer in Kent Police, was killed whilst out walking her dog. As we are publishing this report, the trial is continuing of the man accused of murdering Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman in a park in north west London in June 2020. Although rare, these abhorrent and chilling events acted as a catalyst for women and girls across the country to raise concerns and fears for 1 their own safety, drawing on their personal experiences of inappropriate behaviour and abuse. Our review of inspection evidence found that the police have made vast improvements over the past ten years in how they respond to and investigate VAWG crimes. For instance, we have reported on improved and more consistent risk assessments; better identification of repeat victims, to ensure more tailored responses, safeguarding measures and support; an increased use of body-worn video, to capture evidence at the scene of an incident; committed and professional police officers and staff; and passionate and visible local and national leaders, dedicated to improving services for victims. This has been achieved against a backdrop of increased reporting (some of historic crimes), the continuing effects of austerity on policing and partner-agency budgets, and the introduction of new crime types, such as coercive control. The police should maintain this momentum and build on these improvements. However, as a member of our external reference group put it: “We can’t just police our way out of violence against women and girls”. It is a societal problem that requires a societal response. Our analysis of past and current inspection evidence leads us to conclude that improving the police approach – and making recommendations aimed solely at this – isn’t enough. Significant, system-wide reform to the response to VAWG offences is urgently required. When a crime has taken place, there needs to be a seamless approach across the criminal justice system to make sure that the best support is in place for the victim; investigations are timely and robust, and strong cases are built; and the perpetrator is brought to justice. Regrettably, our inspection evidence shows this isn’t always the case. Court delays are still a significant concern in some areas. In some crime types, including rape and domestic abuse, only a fraction of those cases that are reported by the victim reach the point of charge and then prosecution. Investigations are too often subject to drift and delay, and joint working between the police and the Crown Prosecution Service can sometimes be ineffective. There also needs to be better working across the whole public sector to respond to VAWG offences – including through activity to prevent them happening in the first place. These crimes are deep-rooted and pervasive in our society. Criminal justice alone cannot uproot them, nor do victims always want a criminal justice outcome. Although the focus of this inspection has been on the policing response, our inspections have found there isn’t always an effective whole-system approach in which all partner agencies (such as police, local authorities, and health and education services) work together to safeguard victims and help prevent further offending. The needs of victims must be a central focus of any investigation across the criminal justice system. This is both in recognition of the trauma many have experienced, and because this should help make sure they are in the best position to support a prosecution, if this is the right option for them, and so achieve justice. However, in too many cases, our inspections find inconsistencies, and sometimes failures, in the support given to victims. In parallel with this victim focus, if all forces are to follow the example of the best, they need the capacity, capability and relentless focus on using the full extent of their police 2 powers to relentlessly pursue and disrupt perpetrators. Again, this will help prevent further offending (we will say more about the critical importance of preventative work in our final report). We conclude that there needs to be a radical and bold shift in thinking about how to tackle crimes that disproportionately affect women and girls. This should be supported with multi-year, sustained funding, backed by solid evidence, and structured through an overarching governance system and framework, which may need a statutory footing. We have made three overarching recommendations in this interim report and set out some of the specific steps we consider necessary to achieve this shift. The detail of how this should happen needs to be rapidly determined by government, with full input from leaders within policing and partner agencies, and from the voluntary and community sector. Our recommendations, detailed in Section 4, are: 1. There should be an immediate and unequivocal commitment that the response to VAWG offences is an absolute priority for government, policing, the criminal justice system, and public sector partnerships. This needs to be supported at a minimum by a relentless focus on these crimes; mandated and clear responsibilities; and sufficient funding so that all partner agencies can work effectively as part of a whole-system approach to reduce and prevent the harms these offences are causing. 2. The relentless pursuit and disruption of adult perpetrators should be a national priority for the police, resourced with the appropriate level of capability and capacity. 3. Structures and funding should be put in place to make sure victims receive tailored and consistent support. We will give further details on these recommendations in our final report. This will also draw on the findings of new inspection activity, and on our work to gather the views of female victims and survivors themselves.
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